Featured Image Credit: Bill McDonald, Algalita Foundation
By: Sarah Sharkey
The UN is beginning to warn people of the global dangers of plastic trash in our seas. Lisa Svensson said “This is a planetary crisis. In a few short decades since we discovered the convenience of plastics, we are ruining the ecosystem of the ocean.”
Svesson recently spoke at a UN environmental summit in Nairobi on the issue of plastic litter in our ocean. Delegates are pushing for more action against this horrible litter that is ruining the lives of our ocean’s creatures. Svesson was very moved by a recent experience at a sea turtle hospital in Kenya. She witnessed a sick sea turtle be recovered and then released back into the ocean where it is likely it will ingest more plastic. She makes it clear that sea life is not stupid or to blame for ingesting this plastic. Sea turtles eat jellyfish and unfortunately plastic bags look like jellyfish.
Some beachgoers are great at picking up the trash that they do see, but it is impossible to pick up every tiny piece of plastic from the beach. Many are hoping that the UN starts to outline and enforce stricter rules on the growing plastic pollution reaching our ocean and hurting our sea life.
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